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Head of Revolutionary Guards on Security and Energy in the Persian Gulf

Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the head of the Revolutionary Guards, explaining the Guards’ role in the Persian Gulf stated: “The Guards are a pillar for securing stability and the movement of energy in the Persian Gulf”.

Jafari’s speech was delivered in the course of his visit to Guard military installations in the Strait of Hormuz, where he emphasized further, “this great defensive capacity can be developed in the path of securing national security and the defensive strategies of the regime…The Guards with its naval power as the bestower of order, is a lever of power in the Persian Gulf region, and pursues its obligations in the sphere of guarding the Islamic Revolution…Our defensive components in the sea are an assurance and deterrent and this power and assurance has always been guaranteed with the strengthening of spirituality in the Guards”.

In other news

The US based Farsi language site Khodnevis, has stated that the newspaper Jahan-e sanat has reported that the reason for the Supreme Audit Court’s order for the dismissal of Central Bank chief, Mahmoud Bahmani, is because “$33 billion has been lost in the banks”.

Iran’s Majles on Sunday approved a plan to research and investigate the Central Bank of Iran and on Monday, the Supreme Audit Court attached to the Majles issued the order for Bahmani’s being relieved from his duty as Central Bank chief.

The reason for Bahmani’s dismissal cited by the Supreme Audit Court was the “illegal withdrawal over night from bank accounts”.

The Supreme Audit Court has also stated that the dismissal of Bahmani is legal and that no opportunity remains for the decision’s review.

According to a report by the Green Movement affiliated Neda-ye sabz, Ezatollah Yousefian, an incumbent member of the Majles has said, “in one of the meetings to which Bahmani had been summoned to explain regarding the currency which had been given to the relevant banks, Bahmani said the money which had been obtained by selling currency is for the treasury and must be deposited in that account…18 private and government banks played a role in this, in which it is not clear where approximately £ 33 billion has gone, or been consumed and spent”.

Hassan Rowhani, former head of the Supreme National Security Council, and a member of both the Expediency Discernment Council and Assembly of Experts has criticized the “securitization of the electoral atmosphere”.

In the course of a speech at the 11th Congress of the Democracy Party Congress (Hezb-e mardomsalari), Rowhani stated, “the election atmosphere must be political and cultural. We must not securitize the election atmosphere. A securitized atmosphere is to no one’s benefit and is to the detriment of the country and regime”.

Rowhani also criticized individuals who use phrases such as “managed or engineered elections” and said, “[the election] shouldn’t be spoken about in such a way that the people feel that the election is merely ceremonial”.

Rowhani’s comments are an unambiguous reference to those of Hojjat al-Islam Ali Saeidi, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representative in the Revolutionary Guards, who recently stated that the Guards clarify the “framework and criteria” of the Islamic Republic’s elections.

The Tehran municipality has stated that it plans to turn Iran’s infamous Evin prison into a park and museum.

Meisam Amrudi, a representative for Society and Culture from the Tehran municipality on Thursday added “soon Evin prison will be transferred and it will be transformed into a garden and museum”.

The Mayor of Tehran, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, had previously said that “preliminary agreements” had been reached with the Judiciary for turning Evin into a green zone.